Lucian Freud

Lucian Michael FreudOMCH (/ˈluː.si.ənˈfrɔɪd/; 8 December 1922– 20 July 2011) was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time. His works are noted for their psychological penetration and their often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model.

Early life and family

Born in Berlin, Freud was the son of a German Jewish mother, Lucie (née Brasch), and an Austrian Jewish father, Ernst L. Freud, an architect. He was a grandson of Sigmund Freud, and elder brother of the broadcaster, writer and politician Clement Freud (thus uncle of Emma and Matthew Freud) and the younger brother of Stephan Gabriel Freud.

Lucian

Lucian of Samosata (/ˈluːʃən, ˈluːsiən/; Ancient Greek: Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, Latin:Lucianus Samosatensis; c.AD 125 – after AD 180) was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.
Although he wrote solely in Greek, mainly Attic Greek, he was ethnically Assyrian.
Lucian claimed to be a native speaker of a "barbarian tongue" (Double Indictment, 27) which was most likely Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic.

Biography

Few details of Lucian's life can be verified with any degree of accuracy. He claimed to have been born in Samosata, in the former kingdom of Commagene, which had been absorbed by the Roman Empire and made part of the province of Syria. In his works, Lucian refers to himself as an "Assyrian", and "barbarian", perhaps indicating "he was from the Semitic and not the imported Greek population" of Samosata. There are more than eighty surviving works attributed to him– declamations, essays both laudatory and sarcastic, satiric epigrams, and comic dialogues and symposia with a satirical cast, studded with quotations in alarming contexts and allusions set in an unusual light, designed to be surprising and provocative. His name added lustre to any entertaining and sarcastic essay: more than 150 surviving manuscripts attest to his continued popularity. The first printed edition of a selection of his works was issued at Florence in 1499. His best known works are A True Story (a romance, patently not "true" at all, which he admits in his introduction to the story), and Dialogues of the Gods (Θεῶν διάλογοι) and Dialogues of the Dead (Νεκρικοὶ Διάλογοι).

The 39 Clues

The 39 Clues is a series of adventure novels written by a collaboration of authors, including Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Roland Smith, David Baldacci, Jeff Hirsch, Natalie Standiford, C. Alexander London, and Jenny Goebel. It consists of four series, The Clue Hunt, Cahills vs. Vespers, Unstoppable, and Doublecross. They chronicle the adventures of two siblings, Amy and Dan Cahill, who discover that their family, the Cahills, has been the most influential family in history. The first story arc concerns Dan and Amy's quest to find the 39 Clues, which are ingredients to a serum that can create the most powerful person on Earth. This series' primary audience is age 8–12. Since the release of the first novel, The Maze of Bones, on September 9, 2008, the books have gained popularity, positive reception, and commercial success. As of July 2010, the book series has about 8.5 million copies in print and has been translated into 24 languages. The publisher of the books is Scholastic Press in the United States. Steven Spielberg acquired film rights to the series in June 2008, and a film based on the books will be released in 2016. The series also originated tie-in merchandise, including collectible cards and an interactive Internet game.

Lucian Freud

Lucian Michael FreudOMCH (/ˈluː.si.ənˈfrɔɪd/; 8 December 1922– 20 July 2011) was a German-born British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time. His works are noted for their psychological penetration and their often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model.

Early life and family

Born in Berlin, Freud was the son of a German Jewish mother, Lucie (née Brasch), and an Austrian Jewish father, Ernst L. Freud, an architect. He was a grandson of Sigmund Freud, and elder brother of the broadcaster, writer and politician Clement Freud (thus uncle of Emma and Matthew Freud) and the younger brother of Stephan Gabriel Freud.

The auction house achieved a rare white glove sale, notching up £29.1m (£34.4m with fees; estimated in excess of £27m), up 41% on last year’s sale...Exceptions included one of the last reclining nudes that LucianFreud painted, which achieved £19.7m (£22.5m with fees), making it the most expensive painting by the artist to be sold in London....

The main sale of antiques and collectibles from Grahame’s shop was held late last year and included an Edwardian diamond tiara owned by the great aunt of Princess Diana, which made £70,000... The artist and near neighbour LucianFreud said Grahame looked like an “Eskimo soap-stone carving”....